SUNDAY 17 MAY 2020

Proclaim a joyful sound and let it be heard; proclaim to the ends of the earth: The Lord has freed his people, alleluia.

Collect

Grant, almighty God, that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy, which we keep in honour of the risen Lord, and that what we relive in remembrance we may always hold to in what we do. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

First reading: Acts 8:5-8,14-17

Philip went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves. There were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great rejoicing in that town. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, and they went down there, and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come down on any of them: they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 65(66):1-7,16,20

R/ Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

Cry out with joy to God all the earth, O sing to the glory of his name. O render him glorious praise. Say to God: ‘How tremendous your deeds!

‘Before you all the earth shall bow; shall sing to you, sing to your name!’ Come and see the works of God, tremendous his deeds among men.

He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the river dry-shod. Let our joy then be in him; he rules for ever by his might.

Come and hear, all who fear God. I will tell what he did for my soul: Blessed be God who did not reject my prayer nor withhold his love from me.

Second reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18

Reverence the Lord Christ in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander you when you are living a good life in Christ may be proved wrong in the accusations that they bring. And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong. Why, Christ himself, innocent though he was, had died once for sins, died for the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life.

Gospel Acclamation: Jn 14:23

Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus said: ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.’ Alleluia!

Gospel: John 14:15-21

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever, that Spirit of truth whom the world can never receive since it neither sees nor knows him; but you know him, because he is with you, he is in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you. In a short time the world will no longer see me; but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will understand that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.’

Prayer over the Offerings

May our prayers rise up to you, O Lord, together with the sacrificial offerings, so that, purified by your graciousness, we may be conformed to the mysteries of your mighty love. Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon: Jn 14: 15-16

If you love me, keep my commandments, says the Lord, and I will ask the Father and he will send you another Paraclete, to abide with you for ever, alleluia.

Prayer after Communion

Almighty ever-living God, who restore us to eternal life in the Resurrection of Christ, increase in us, we pray, the fruits of this paschal Sacrament and pour into our hearts the strength of this saving food. Through Christ our Lord.

Meditation

The second reading of today invites us to reverence or in other words sanctify the Lord in our hearts. To sanctify God may signify to offer him the praises due to his grace, but as to sanctify literally means to make holy, it is impossible that God should be thus sanctified. In the gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit plays an essential role in Christian faith and yet is something not really easy to talk about. Some people equate the work of the spirit with a particular kind of experience, such as excitement in worship or speaking in tongues. Others are content with a kind of vague spirituality that seems to be mainly a sense that there is something out there –that we cannot name. Jesus tells his disciples that their love for him will be shown by their obedience to him and he will ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit, another advocate, who will never leave them. The Holy Spirit will lead them into all truth. The Holy Spirit will come and continue Jesus’ work in his followers. Following Jesus means more than a particular spirituality or religious tradition. The true followers of Jesus are those who obey his commandments.